Parallel Polarization State Generation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel parallel architecture for generating arbitrary polarization states of light, expanding the design space and enabling enhanced performance for various optical applications.

Contribution

It presents a new parallel approach to polarization state generation using a sum of matrices, demonstrated experimentally with spatially-separated polarization components.

Findings

Expanded parameter space for polarization control

Performance depends on optical intensity modulation technologies

Potential applications in spectroscopy, imaging, and communications

Abstract

The control of polarization, an essential property of light, is of wide scientific and technological interest. The general problem of generating arbitrary time-varying states of polarization (SOP) has always been mathematically formulated by a series of linear transformations, i.e. a product of matrices, imposing a serial architecture. Here we show a parallel architecture described by a sum of matrices. The theory is experimentally demonstrated by modulating spatially-separated polarization components of a laser using a digital micromirror device that are subsequently beam combined. This method greatly expands the parameter space for engineering devices that control polarization. Consequently, performance characteristics, such as speed, stability, and spectral range, are entirely dictated by the technologies of optical intensity modulation, including absorption, reflection, emission, and scattering. This opens up important prospects for polarization state generation (PSG) with unique performance characteristics and applications in spectroscopic ellipsometry, spectropolarimetry, communications, imaging, and security.